Why does Blood Strike still exist?

[Snes]

And why did they even bother nerfing it by half next expansion?

Personally I'd rather either see it gone completely or used in Frost again so that we have to actively generate death runes for ourselves again instead of mindlessly mashing buttons and not having to watch runes at all.

[bals]

And why did they even bother nerfing it by half

all weapon based attacks got nerfed.

and it exists cause you don't get heart strike until 60 and i'm sure the other specs use it for awhile too

[Beefkow]

all weapon based attacks got nerfed.

and it exists cause you don't get heart strike until 60 and i'm sure the other specs use it for awhile too

SS is replacing that ability, idk why that needed to be nerfed as well....

[hellboyy]

it's a leveling ability isn't it?

[Beefkow]

yep, it used to be one of our primary abilities as unholy.... aye, i miss the good ol' times.

[bals]

SS is replacing that ability, idk why that needed to be nerfed as well....

because ALL weapon based abilities got nerfed

[Nubix223]

No clue, either way i hate DK's D:::

[Eluo]

Gah, remember when we had to use that crap as dw frost in wrath. Yuck. At least that shows blizz can actually make changes for the better.

[Schizoide]

it's a leveling ability isn't it?

Kinda. Heart strike is 60 and festering strike is 64, so you don't use it for long. The devs basically forgot about it.

[dingobongo]

all weapon based attacks got nerfed.

and it exists cause you don't get heart strike until 60 and i'm sure the other specs use it for awhile too

Make Heart Strike available earlier, or fix low level DKs. Solved.

Thought they was removing clutter abilities in Cata, and again in MoP, but its still there.

[Milkyz]

What if you can't hit a nearby target due to an encounter gimmick and so can't hit Heart Strike. Isn't Blood Strike the only suitable option if you have to drop out HS?

[Schizoide]

Yep, but those encounters don't come up too often. It's supposedly a concern in PvP. It's also an issue with CC, and we'll have CC again in MoP-- but unlike DPS, tanks can always just move the active mob.

[Wih]

What if you can't hit a nearby target due to an encounter gimmick and so can't hit Heart Strike. Isn't Blood Strike the only suitable option if you have to drop out HS?

This is exactly it, it's for consuming Blood runes to generate RP while you can't use HS or BB due to CC (in addition to leveling).